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Meatless Mondays

May 1, 2019

The term is an advertising slogan to encourage people to cut out eating meat one day a week. The slogan uses Monday as an example presumably because of the alliteration with “Meatless,” and because it was used in the US during World War I to reduce consumption of a key staple in support of the war effort. There is also evidence suggesting that people are more readily inclined to adopt new behavior on Mondays since it is in effect the start of a fresh week, and follows a weekend when people tend to relax from restrictions.

In the last several decades it was resurrected as part of public health campaigns to reduce reliance on meat because of the risks of preventable illnesses associated with excessive meat consumption, including diabetes and heart diseases.

At the same time, it has become recognized that raising beef cows creates significant environmental problems including pollution of waterways with fertilizers, and substantial greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of methane from flatulent cows and from converting woodlands to pasture.

Some further ideas to explore on Meatless Mondays:

How often do you eat meat? Every day? Every meal?

How often do you eat vegetables? Every day? Every meal?

If you eat meat at every meal or every day, what health risks are you subjecting yourself to?